Metal Priestess

During the last part of the tour, Swenson was contacted by American singer, songwriter and record producer Dan Hartman ‘s office, asking for a meeting with Williams and Swenson. Hartman, who produced 38 Special , James Brown , and others, had been working on a session in LA when he picked up Beyond the Valley of 1984 and could not stop playing it. He felt it was “groundbreaking”. He said, “I knew I wanted to meet these people and do something with them.” Hartman came down to the Tribeca loft, met Williams and Swenson, and a month later he and Swenson were working on the production of the Metal Priestess mini-LP . The band needed more product but another album was premature, partly because Capitol Records was now making overtures for the next one. Bruce Kirkland at Stiff was ready to release it and that summer Metal Priestess was recorded at Hartman’s private studio off his schoolhouse-turned-home in Connecticut . Released early that fall, Metal Priestess saw the band move closer to heavy metal , and included new members Chris “Junior” Romanelli (replacing Jean Beauvoir) and Joey Reese.